Qualitative research manual

Qualitative research examines in depth a small number of cases to explore in detail specific processes or contexts, to understand in depth a specific social phenomenon, or to understand how people conceive, perceive or narrate their daily situations. That is to say, it deals with the aspects that are subjectively apprehensible by means of an integration in those processes that are not susceptible of being measured in terms of frequency.

The ideographic character of the data, the inductive logic and the subjectivism inherent to qualitative research do not conform to the basic foundations of the scientific method. However, the search for the particularity of social phenomena is compatible with the generation of generalizable explanations; the work of theoretical construction does not imply that the researcher is captive to the analytic categories, and objectivity also emerges from a plural reality where the truth is provisional.

The book Qualitative Research Manual explores the basic characteristics of the scientific method; describes the stages of the investigation process; addresses the strategy of analysis of discursive data and explains how to transform raw data into a finished product; analyzes the phases of the saturation process of the discursive differences gathered in the research process and addresses the problem of the generalization of the results; describes the strategies to follow to ensure the rigor of qualitative research, and finally, examines the aspects that involve the main qualitative techniques of data collection.